


The School Board Clone Swap Incident

by greendale_student



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-05 08:27:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16807048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greendale_student/pseuds/greendale_student
Summary: The school board holds an important vote while Alison is out of town, and Helena is the only clone available to impersonate her.





	1. Chapter 1

The soccer field is looking rather chaotic with dozens of kids running around, but this kind of chaos is familiar and comfortable to Alison Hendrix—not like the conspiracies she’s been entangled in recently. Calling Gemma and her teammates over for a pregame strategy session, Alison thinks appreciatively of the relative calm since Neolution was brought down. If her reputation among the neighbors has been dented considerably by a series of scandals, she’s also gained a more accepting community through her many clones and their allies. And now she can coach her kids’ soccer team without worrying about interference from sinister plotters. Still, Alison is particularly aware of the whole drug-dealing debacle today. The calendar she checked in her music room back in Bailey Downs earlier had still had today’s meeting of the Glendale School Board listed. Alison is still on the board, but she’s been discreetly encouraged to stay away from meetings and consider stepping down. So, instead of debating the local education budget, she’s spending the day driving hours each way to coach soccer. Trying to be relaxed and artsy and not on edge about that, Alison’s at least doing a good job of keeping herself busy when her phone buzzes—the regular phone, not the second one she keeps hidden in public. She ignores it, focusing on her game plan, but it keeps making insistent noises. Annoyed, Alison finally glances at the string of text messages. To her surprise, they’re from one of her erstwhile colleagues on the school board. Her eyes widen as she reads the text.

_Hendrix—get 2 the meeting ASAP! Buckingham flipped on redistricting—we need your vote!_

Alison spins around and bolts to find her husband in the stands, leaping over benches and shoving past startled bystanders. She’s already reaching for her other, secret phone. The rest of the school board doesn’t know she’s out of town. This is going to require some covert scheming.

“I need you to coach the game, there’s a situation with the school board,” she tells Donnie.

“But I don’t know what you had planned—”

“Just tell them to—I don’t know, be motivated and kick the ball or something, Marci Coates’s allies on the board made some deal with another member and they’re trying to change district boundaries while I’m not there to vote no.”

“You know the meeting will be done before you can get back from—”

Alison’s already scrambling behind the stands to get some privacy. Picking up her clone phone, she calls Sarah. “Oi, what’s up?” her sister answers promptly. Alison can hear voices in the background.

“The school board is pulling some kind of dirty trick while I’m out of town and I need you to be me!” Alison hisses.

“Can’t, I’m chaperoning Kira’s field trip.”

“ _You’re_ —”

“Hey, you should have thought of all the times you’d need me to con people before you encouraged me to be all responsible.” The amusement in Sarah’s voice is not helping Alison’s mood. Calming herself, she remembers the incident during her campaign speech and considers the effect on her career in local politics if her clone gets caught attending the meeting for Alison because she can’t stay in character. Then she remembers that this vote is why she ran for office in the first place. She calls Cosima.

The response is more cheerful this time. “I need you to go to a school board meeting as me,” Alison explains. “I’m at Gemma’s soccer game, you just need to stall them for a few hours until I get back—”

“Yeah, the travel time from Kathmandu is gonna be an issue there.”

Alison knows this was a long trip for a soccer game, but it’s for her kids and she doesn’t think her sister should be making fun of her for it. “Look, I’m just a couple hours away, Felix can show you where Sarah keeps her disguises—”

“No, seriously, dude, we’re in Kathmandu. The mountains are beautiful, I have so many pictures to show—”

Alison hangs up, trying to remember her new meditation techniques instead of throwing her phone. She’d forgotten that Cosima’s itinerary had her tracking down another clone overseas this week. Alison again considers the effect on her political career of sending a substitute who blatantly won’t act or sound like her. Not to mention if the meeting turns into a brawl.

Shaking her head in frustration, she punches in the number of the landline at her own house.

The Hendrixes’ teenage next-door neighbor is almost bored enough to start cleaning her room when she hears a knock at the door. Rolling her eyes, she opens the door to find Alison’s weird twin who lives in the garage standing on the porch, holding what appears to be a half-eaten blueberry and jello taco in one hand and a sizeable bundle of money in the other. “I need baby-sitting,” she announces.


	2. Chapter 2

The Glendale School Trustees are about to convene their meeting when someone dashes into the room, enlivening the staidly bureaucratic feel of the municipal building. Recognizing Alison Hendrix’s face, some members of the board look pleased, while others are annoyed—and not just because she showed up in her campaign hat and t-shirt, though some disapproving whispers about political showboating can be heard. She looks hesitant approaching the table, studying each person there with a wary eye, but one of the friendly board members pulls her to a chair and hands her a folder full of papers. When she starts trying to make small talk, Alison shakes her head instead of replying. “My voice is different from singing in theatre,” she explains. She _does_ sound different than usual. Alison’s political ally offers her a water bottle, which she accepts but doesn’t drink from, being too busy reaching to grab a surprising number of donuts from the plate at the center of the table. Before Alison’s odd behavior can be questioned further, the sound of a gavel announces the start of the meeting. Alison leans back in her chair, watching everything with an attitude somewhat reminiscent of a cat.

Helena watches the school board as they start talking, noticing that there are two teams that are clearly mad at each other even though they’ve so far refrained from arguing. The board members are all sitting around a table, while there are some chairs off to the side where a handful of onlookers sit, one of them taking notes. Across from Helena there are some windows, and she can see a flock of pigeons in the lush grass outside; their occasional scuffles over space and food are more interesting than the hidden resentments among the school trustees. Strange that so much effort would go into a campaign for the right to argue at a big table in an office building. The donuts are good, but Helena could get those from the grocery store. Although _sestra_ Alison gives her funny looks when she brings home this many donuts. But, she reminds herself, this office is where decisions are made about Oscar and Gemma’s school—and Helena’s babies’ school when they are old enough. So she flips through the folder they handed her and tries to pay attention to the long lists of numbers the others are talking about. She should be prepared if someone has a question for Alison Hendrix, anyway.

_Sestra_ Alison told Helena to keep a low profile during the meeting. Helena is good at that, but these people all know Alison and she must be careful to keep up the disguise. But Alison also said to slow down the meeting, so that they can’t make any decisions until she arrives. The reason she needs Helena to be here is that the board is planning to vote on changing the school districts, but Alison also said _not_ to vote on anything, because if they found out it was Helena and not the real Alison it wouldn’t count. So Helena just has to not attract attention, but also stop the school board from doing anything. She grabs some more donuts and tries to think of a good plan for that.

While Donnie drives the minivan back towards Toronto—one of Alison’s friends volunteered to coach the soccer game—Alison is still on the phone in the passenger seat, trying to recruit some backup before the school board sees through Helena’s disguise. Felix is busy with an art show, but Scott seems to have stayed in town while Cosima went to Nepal. “But I don’t know anything about the school district—” he starts to protest.

“Well, just use your science knowledge to invent a distraction!” Alison says. She hangs up before he starts asking more questions.

The school trustees are still angry, but they’ve stayed quiet for a while as they read through long lists of budget figures. Then the one next to Helena— _Stacey_ , according to her name tag—stands up, drawing everyone’s attention. Helena sets aside her donut. “I think we’re agreed on the outline of the budget,” Stacey declares. “I hear we have a redistricting proposal to consider?” She glances at Helena with a smile. As far as she knows, Alison is here and her faction has the votes to stop the redistricting. With a glare across the table, a man with a name tag reading _Bob Buckingham_ takes some papers out of a folder. The real Alison is in a minivan somewhere in the countryside.

“Excuse me,” Helena says tentatively, wary of drawing attention. “I have many questions about the budgets.” Alison’s friend looks confused. Helena nods at her in a way she hopes _sestra_ Alison might. “Is there budget for food at school fair?”

Bob Buckingham looks even more annoyed now. _Sestra_ Alison said that he was the one who changed his vote to support the redistricting. He is very interested in this vote, considering that he just changed his mind about it. “We’ve already allocated funds for the fair,” he says. “Refreshments are included in those figures, the PTA handles the details.”

“Yes,” Helena replies, “but it is big party, many children having fun, and also families. Will we have _enough_ food for everyone, I am wondering?” The whole school board is staring. Trying to make her voice sound more like Alison’s, she adds, “I move we all-o-cate additional funds to improve the refreshments.” The room goes quiet for a moment.

“Uh…seconded,” Alison’s friend says hesitantly.

Bob Buckingham has set down the papers and is watching Helena, no doubt trying to guess her strategy. “I suppose we could consider that at the next meeting,” he says. “If it is of interest to the Board.” He nods in Helena’s direction.

So Alison’s enemies haven’t caught on to the ruse—Helena thinks they’re acting nicer than before. _Oh!_ They think Alison is looking for a bribe. Helena can keep them talking for a long time like this. She remembers Alison and Oscar complaining about the soccer team’s uniforms. “We should have more cool uniforms for the sports teams,” she adds.

Alison’s rival rolls his eyes. “Very well, let’s address that at the next meeting when we’ve looked at the figures.”

“It should go on the agenda,” Helena insists, holding up the piece of paper they gave her with a list of plans for the meeting. “That way you will remember to talk about it.”

Bob Buckingham nods to another man, who types a bit on a laptop. They are putting things on the agenda too efficiently for Helena’s purposes. It will still be a long time before Alison arrives. “Maybe we should make the playgrounds more fun—”

“Okay, but let’s focus on this redistricting vote, right Alison?” The friendly woman named Stacey is looking concerned. She puts her hand on Helena’s arm, which makes her spin around and raise a hand to strike until she realizes what she’s doing. Settling into her chair, Helena tries to shape her face into the strained smile Alison uses when the neighbors comment on her new look. She gives an exaggerated nod and shuffles through the papers at her seat, looking for the one with the rules for the board meeting. She’s going to need a more elaborate plan to stop the vote.

Scott Smith studies the school district building, fiddling with a clipboard full of scribbled science notes and wondering which is more intimidating: the security guards indoors, or Alison’s wrath if he messes this up. He’s texted Alison to ask for her opinion on how tech-savvy the board members are, but her reply was _I don’t know, they all use computers_ , which didn’t clarify very much. Scott makes his way across the parking lot, trying to think of fake jargon that would fool them and reviewing his cover story.


	3. Chapter 3

****

Though he keeps glaring resentfully at Helena, Bob Buckingham is explaining the redistricting plan in a calm and boring voice, while one of his friends runs a projector to put pictures up for everyone to see. Mostly the pictures are not much more interesting than his speech, but he keeps pausing for the board to look at them, which is good. Then they show a detailed map of the current district boundaries and the changes Alison’s enemies want to make. They made it look fancy, with satellite pictures and coordinates written out at a few points on the boundary lines. Helena recognizes Bailey Downs, drawn out of its current school district. But something else on the map catches her attention. The coordinates at one point on the map seem oddly familiar. Helena stares at that part of the satellite picture; they’ve drawn their lines to put a bunch of land in the district Bailey Downs is in now, but it looks like mostly trees there, with one big building among them. Helena looks at it thoughtfully. Then she’s distracted by the buzzing of her phone. There’s a message from _sestra_ Alison: _Stay out of trouble, I sent backup_. Helena looks at the text, then back at the map, focusing her thoughts. Alison said to wait for the backup, and she would be angry if Helena was not careful to keep her profile low. She didn’t say to do anything different if Helena had a good idea.

Helena stands up and leans across the table to grab Bob Buckingham’s folder of papers. He yells at her and the rest of the school board stares, but she manages to steal a paper copy of the map. Studying it closely, Helena is sure she knows the place. This is interesting. She thinks about how it could be useful. While she’s thinking, the door opens and a man with glasses and a clipboard charges into the room. It’s Scott, _sestra_ Cosima’s science friend.

Scott looks nervous, but he flips through the papers on his clipboard and manages to make his voice sound official. “We received an IT report of a hacking alarm in this building,” he announces. “We’ll need the room while we reboot the security infrastructure.” That sounds important. Unless they have invented a lot of computer things since Helena was sneaking into the police station to look for clones, it also sounds like something he made up to trick the school board. So this is Alison’s plan.

“This room is reserved for an official meeting of the Glendale School Board,” Bob Buckingham says loftily. “Do your tech thing after the meeting.”

“Uh, the hackers could be after the school’s data,” Scott improvises. “We’ll need to reverse the polarity and—”

“So you won’t mind if I call the building office and ask why government business is being disrupted?”

Scott stands there awkwardly searching for something to say. “Excuse me,” Helena says, walking out of the room. She gestures to Scott and he follows her, looking relieved.

  


Helena leads Scott into a storage closet, seeming to look for a hiding place even though no one’s following them. Scott is a little nervous around her; while he’s been at Clone Club gatherings with Helena, he hasn’t talked to her very much. Well, except for the time Cosima invited her to their Dungeons and Dragons game, and that was actually pretty terrifying. “I don’t think they bought that,” he explains, hoping Helena’s more relaxed about such things than Alison.

“No, we need new plan. I have an idea. Can you find reporters?”

“What, like, from the newspaper? I guess so…”

“Good. Have them come here. Tell them there is important politics.”

“But Alison said not to—”

“ _Sestra_ Alison said to stop the redistricting. Find the reporters. I will ask Arthur to help gather information.”

“You want a baby to gather information?”

Helena is staring at Scott with a kind of incredulous curiosity. “Big Arthur,” she clarifies.

“Oh.” Right. That probably makes more sense. _Why does she want a detective?_

  


Detective Art Bell is filling out some dull paperwork for a dull case when Helena texts him. After a friendly inquiry about his goldfish, there’s an unusual message—asking for his help accessing very specific official records. He hasn’t been fielding so many requests like this from the clones lately, and it’s not clear what Helena’s up to. Art shrugs and gets to work; at least it’s more entertaining than those reports.

  


The school board meeting is looking a lot busier than it was an hour ago, with several journalists and even a camera crew from the local TV station watching from the handful of chairs provided for interested citizens. Scott still doesn’t know why he was supposed to persuade them to come here, but they aren’t complaining; the redistricting debate has become a heated argument, with the government stenographer in the front row scrambling to note all the insults and accusations for the official record. Scott had asked Alison how far she had to drive, but he thinks she was distracted by the mention of calling reporters because her reply had simply read “YOU DID WHAT?!” in all capitals. He thinks he should let Helena explain their strategy to Alison, and not just because he doesn’t know what their strategy is. At least any embarrassing news articles won’t have much to say about Alison Hendrix so far; Helena has kept quiet while the others argue. Neither the board nor the onlookers pay much attention when she springs out of her chair to check her phone in a secluded corner by the windows.

  


Away from the confusion at the table, Helena looks at her messages—one from  _sestra_ Alison, one from Arthur at the police station. Alison wrote, “What are you doing,  I said keep a low profile!” Helena scrolls past that one for the moment to read the long note from Arthur, which is much more pleasant and even has some pictures. The pictures are just of some legal documents, but they are proof of what Arthur says, which is very interesting. Helena smiles to herself.

She walks back to her chair. The school trustees are still yelling at each other. “Stop arguing, please!” Helena shouts, loud enough to command their attention. “Show everyone the map again,” she tells Bob Buckingham. He hesitates for a moment, then shrugs, clicks a few times on his computer, and the map is projected on the big screen.

“You have changed the drawing so that Bailey Downs would not be in the top school district,” Helena says. She heard _sestra_ Alison talking very much about this when she was running for the school board. “But you want to put this place in the good district.” She gestures to the woodland around the building in the picture. Some of Alison’s rivals just look confused, but Bob Buckingham starts to stand up with a furious expression. 

Seeing the others staring at him, he sits down and says, “That’s just how the boundaries worked out.”

“So you don’t mind if we change it?” Helena smiles. Some of the trustees are whispering. The reporters are watching intently, the way foxes watch when they see a squirrel in the woods. “This place is abandoned church, roof falling down. There are no children there to go to the schools, only forest animals and scary assassins who draw stick figures on the walls. You can get pizza delivery there, though.” She waits a moment, remembering that fondly, then sees Stacey’s befuddled face. “Also there are signs to threaten trespassers. Who put them there? I asked a friend to find out who owns this land. It was sold to...hmmmmm, Marci Coates.” Several people make surprised noises. “She is asking for permits for building houses there. Maybe people will pay more money for these houses if they are in this school district. Oh, and she has a new business partner now. He is named...” Helena glances all around the room, then stares intently across the table, holding up the phone with Arthur’s pictures on the screen, “...Bob Buckingham!”

Bob Buckingham slaps the table and looks around like he wants to run away. The TV camera is trained on him and Helena; the newspaper reporters are writing frantically. Scott stands up and claps his hands, grinning. Alison’s friends join the applause. While they are cheering, a woman in expensive clothes walks into the room. Helena doesn’t know her, but Stacey leans toward her, alarmed. “What is Marci doing here?” she asks.

So this is Alison’s opponent in the election. Marci Coates looks much more relaxed than Bob Buckingham, though her plans have also been exposed. She approaches the table, sending an insincere smile towards the camera. Helena thinks she should do something, but all her ideas would go against  _sestra_ Alison’s instructions. “Yes, I’ve invested in many properties in the vicinity,” Marci says, voice friendly in a cold way. “Thanks to Alison here, I’m also a private citizen, so that shouldn’t be any concern of the board’s. As for Bobby, he’s an upstanding politician who I’m sure will be more careful about conflicts of interest and not be involved in any scandals.” Helena hears the hidden message: she knows things that could get Bob Buckingham in more trouble if he doesn’t vote the way she wants. “This is an important policy debate for our community, so why don’t our representatives go ahead and vote?” She shoots a significant look at Helena.

  


As the minivan speeds past farmland towards the outskirts of Toronto, Alison follows Scott’s updates intently, startling Donnie with a triumphant shout when she learns of Marci’s dubious business dealings. Alison had nearly dropped her phone when she learned that Scott had called the press, but she has to admit she underestimated Helena.  Not only should the redistricting supporters be backing down, but a new scandal involving the school board might steer attention away from Alison’s mistakes. Then she sees a new text—warning of Marci’s arrival and call for a vote. Alison punches the dashboard, shouting in frustration. Marci must have guessed something about the clones after seeing Cosima’s attempt at a speech during the campaign. After all this effort, she’s still half an hour away and the board is about to vote—a vote Helena mustn’t participate in, especially with reporters present.  Shaking her head, Alison sends a text to Helena:  _You did a good job. Get out of there before they vote. At least everyone knows what they’re up to with this scheme._

Moments later, another text appears. Alison gasps in alarm. It starts with a smiley face. Then:  _Do not worry. I will filibuster! I saw it on TV._

As Donnie steers off the highway into the city, a vast expanse of stationary traffic appears in front of them.

  



	4. Chapter 4

The school board is calling for a vote, the reporters watching intently as the two factions stare each other down. Helena looks at the rules again, confirming that her plan should work fine. She hears her phone—without looking, she knows it’s  _sestra_ Alison telling her not to speak. Helena wonders if she should really do this—people will guess that she is not Alison, which will make Alison angry and lead to awkward questions, even if Alison has already worked out a cover story to explain all those clones hanging out at her house to the neighbors. But then Oscar and Gemma would be kicked out of their school, and the forest animals would be kicked out of the woods around the church where Helena used to hide, all so Alison’s enemies can make some money. And this is why  _sestra_ Alison worked so much for the election.

Helena stands up. “I want to make a comment before we vote,” she says cheerfully.

Stacey smiles at her. Helena walks to a little stand with a microphone near the table. “Education is very important to our community,” she says, thinking about the things  _sestra_ Alison said when she was running for the school board. “Our children should not have to change schools without good reasons. Some of you want to play games with the schools so that they can make a lot of money for themselves. This does not help the children. You should vote against the redistricting.” Stacey stands up and starts clapping, and the rest of Alison’s friends on the board join in. Helena looks out the window.  _Sestra_ Alison has not arrived in the parking lot outside, and Stacey looks like she wants to vote now.

“But education is also important to our country’s history,” Helena declares loudly. “As an immigrant...supporter, I have been studying for citizenship applications. You know, in solidarity. When Canada became independent country in 1867...”

  


The vehicles on the road are not moving much, but the relaxed pace of traffic isn’t stopping Alison’s agitation. “Shouldn’t we change lanes or something?” she asks Donnie, intently watching her phone for texts.

“They’re all like this!” he protests.

“Well do _something_ , Helena’s probably talking about clone business to a room full of reporters, or confessing to murders while people think she’s me, or eating all the snacks with no table manners!”

“If she really talks the whole time until we arrive, I think people are going to figure out she’s not you,” Donnie points out.

“Clone secrets aside, how do you think _that_ would look? ‘Elected official uses doppelganger to cheat in vote?’ Marci’s going to say all kinds of stuff to the newspapers to retaliate for exposing her plan, and--”

“Here’s an off-ramp!” Donnie announces, maneuvering the car away from the crowd. The ramp leads to a city street among disheveled buildings. “Check your GPS, I don’t know where we are.”

Alison looks at a map on her phone, trying to figure out the best way to the school district headquarters. “OK, go...left, I guess,” she says, distracted by a new message from Scott. Donnie glances at her warily, then turns onto the next street.

  


The school board has been watching incredulously for quite a while, but the rules say Helena can talk as long as she wants—if she stays here and keeps speaking. “But in the Ice Age there was a big glacier in Toronto. That is all the history I have studied so far.” Helena sees Marci Coates and Bob Buckingham whispering. Scott tries to listen in, but one of the reporters asks him a question. Helena considers what to talk about now. Then she has a great idea! “It is also good to learn about the arts. I will recite poetry for you.” She waits a moment, thinking. “But I will do it in Ukrainian. I learned to do this, because...art is universal language.” Everyone is staring at Helena, except the pigeons outside, who are calmly sitting in the grass. As she starts her favorite poem, Bob Buckingham stands up.

“Enough!” he shouts. “This is making a mockery of the board. Clearly that’s not Alison Hendrix.”

Helena surveys the room, alert to the rest of the crowd’s actions. This is the problem with her plan. The rules say she can keep talking, but the rules also say she is supposed to be Alison  Hendrix. If the rest of the board doesn’t believe her cover story, they could try to kick her out. Helena walked by a couple of security guards in the building earlier. They were bored and inattentive; she would win a fight with them, but she doesn’t think that would help  _sestra_ Alison. Then Stacey stands up, facing the reporters.

“This is absurd,” she says confidently. “Don’t you recognize someone you’ve been working with all this time? Alison has the right to speak.” Sitting down, Stacey looks sharply at Helena, who nods at her, hoping she understands the game.

  


“I think that’s the same building we saw ten minutes ago.”

“Okay, I’m working on the directions, you keep throwing off the GPS by taking every street!” Alison fiddles with her phone, trying make sense of their route through the maze of alleys. When she knows where they are, she starts reading directions to Donnie. As they make their way to a major road, the computer says they should reach the school offices in a few minutes. Then Alison realizes it’s the same road they just left. The minivan pulls into the traffic, not going any faster than before. Alison thinks she recognizes the truck they were behind half an hour ago.

  


Art is enjoying his lunch in a cafe when he looks at a TV and is startled by a  _very_ familiar face. The headline reads, “Anarchy at School Board Vote!” The camera is focused on one of the clones, talking animatedly to a room full of bewildered bureaucrats. The text identifies her as  _Alison Hendrix, School Trustee?_ They were smart to include that question mark; Art knows the voice and the alert, feral movements of the speaker belong to Helena. So this is why he was researching land deals today. Helena seems to be reading delivery menus. No, wait—she isn’t looking at a phone or anything. She’s  _reciting delivery menus from memory_ . Maybe school board politics is more interesting than he thought.

  


Helena’s shouted down a few more attempts to disrupt her speech, but even the hostile school trustees are staying in their chairs, while Marci Coates talks to the newspaper reporters. Alison wouldn’t like that, but Helena has to keep talking so they don’t try to vote.  At least she knows plenty of menus to keep the filibuster going. “Fish sandwich, french fries, and...” Helena trails off, watching the pigeons outside take flight in a flurry of wings. Looking to see what startled them, she sees  _sestra_ Alison running across the lawn towards the building. “ So  you should vote no on the redistricting. Thank you.” Helena drops the microphone on the floor and runs  past the reporters to the hallway, ducking into a closet to confuse anyone following her, then sneaks out towards the front door to meet Alison.


	5. Chapter 5

Alison dashes into the building, looking frantically around for reporters who might see her and figure out the ruse. She realizes she should have made plans to switch places with Helena outdoors where they were less likely to be watched, but she was too distracted to think of that. Then Alison sees Helena waving next to an open closet door. Alison runs into the storage room and Helena closes the door just as the sound of footsteps is heard. They huddle in the dark for a moment, until it’s quiet again and Alison flicks the light on. With nervous energy from the frantic car ride seeking an outlet, she starts a rant about discretion. “This is a public meeting even without the reporters you invited, you have to be more cautious about—”

Helena cuts her off sharply, looking like she already knows what Alison was going to say. “They are about to vote, you should run there. I think they know I am not you, and also Marci Coates is saying mean things about you to reporters. I did not want to cause trouble, but I also did not want your children to change schools. And the prettier sports uniforms are on the agenda for the next meeting.”

Alison stands there for a moment, thinking about the effort Helena put into this. Helena doesn’t need to run around pretending to be Alison whenever these sorts of shenanigans happen, and not only had she volunteered for the task, she’d gone to extraordinary lengths to defend Alison’s policies. “Your tactics were a bit...unorthodox,” Alison says more gently, “but you stood up for me and the kids and let everyone know what Marci was really up to. You did a good job, _sestra_.”

Helena smiles, looking slightly shy. “Thank you. We should switch clothes before they vote.”

“Wait,” Alison says impulsively. “I have a better idea.”

Some of the school trustees are trying to start voting when Alison Hendrix runs into the room to cheers from opponents of the redistricting plan and angry comments from the rival faction. Scott recognizes her as the real Alison—and sees that she’s wearing entirely different clothes, which will call attention to the clone swap. Not that people would need that to figure out part of the story, since Marci Coates has been accusing Alison of hiring someone to impersonate her in snide comments to any reporter who listens. Scott’s trying to improvise a story that sounds less embarrassing when Helena walks into the room behind Alison, drawing stares from everyone who watched her epic speech. The board members start talking, some sounding angry, some laughing at the audacity of the plan. One of the reporters nudges another, who rolls his eyes and hands over some money. “Thanks for waiting for me to vote,” Alison says, looking at Marci with a triumphant smile. “I’d like you all to meet my sister Helena.”

Birds are singing in the backyard as the sun warms Bailey Downs, the light striking the table on the back porch of the Hendrix house. Stepping outside, Alison hands a plate of toast to an enthusiastic Helena, looking fondly at Oscar and Gemma playing in the yard before picking up the newspaper Donnie was reading. The headline that she’s looking for reads “Secret Twin Exposes School Board Scandal!” Appearing together at the vote had been a good way of defusing Marci’s accusations; the article calls attention to how far Alison and Helena went to reveal their opponents’ secret land deal and stop their redistricting plan. After all those hints about resigning, today Stacey texted Alison wondering if she planned to run for reelection.

“Sarah says you have to talk to any _sestra_ s who have questions about our pictures,” Helena tells Alison.

“Oh! Well, I’m glad to help, although I think Cosima explains it better,” Alison says, fidgeting. Even with Neolution taken down, the instinct to keep everything to do with the clones as secret as possible is strong, and despite her appreciation for Helena’s efforts Alison is still wary of the publicity from yesterday’s incident. Helena puts a hand on her arm, less hesitant than she usually is when making such gestures to Alison.

“I will help if there are questions. Of course some of us will want to know more, just like you and Sarah and Cosima. If they see this,” she holds up the newspaper, waving around the picture of the sisters at the school board meeting, “they will just be finding us more easily. Then we can invite them all to big party!”

“It sounds nice,” Alison says, her face thoughtful. “To find all of us without, you know, the whole conspiracy thing.”

Helena laughs wryly. “We will make sure that they have nice time meeting clone family. But maybe we should make them do clone swap, to join secret club.”

Alison grins and hugs her sister, then watches as she runs to the yard to play with Oscar and Gemma. The kids laugh as Helena chases them around, doing imitations of animal sounds. Succeeding in a political contest and outwitting her rivals is nice, Alison thinks to herself, but what’s really nice is knowing her family is glad to help, even with wacky schemes like this.


End file.
